USS Frank E. Evans survivors gather in Long Beach

A memorial service was held Tuesday at the Naval Memorial in Shoreline Park for the 74 sailors that were killed June 3, 1969, when their ship USS Frank E. Evans collided with an Australian aircraft carrier in the waters near Vietnam.
Steve McCrank — Staff photographer

LONG BEACH >> A memorial service was held Tuesday on the 45th anniversary of the deadly collision between the USS Frank E. Evans and the Australian carrier HMAS Melbourne on the South China Sea.

More than 50 survivors and their loved ones gathered at the Long Beach Naval Memorial to remember the 74 sailors who died in the early morning of June 3, 1969, when the Evans, based out of Long Beach, made an incorrect turn during a training exercise, causing the Melbourne to cut through her.

“I think this camaraderie just helps everybody deal with that loss they had 45 years ago,” said Tim Wendler, a Pasadena resident who lost his father, Richard Thibodeau, in the collision.

Tuesday’s service was the 10th annual gathering in Long Beach to remember the 74 dead. The event included a color presentation by the Hawthorne High School Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, a “laying of the wreath” donated by the HMAS Melbourne Association, a bell ceremony and a reading of the names of those who died.

Trevor Davies, who was a boiler fitter aboard the Melbourne during the collision, traveled from New South Wales, Australia, to attend the memorial for the first time.

Davies recalled the ships being filled with “young lads” during the horrifying accident in the middle of the night. Many of the survivors have kept in contact with Melbourne crewmen over the years.

Roy “Pete” Peters, who was standing messenger midwatch during the fatal accident, thanked those aboard the Melbourne, which turned around to rescue and treat the survivors.

“If it hadn’t been for the Australians, there would’ve been a lot more than the 74,” Peters said.

The Frank E. Evans Association has worked to get the names of the 74 sailors on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in the nation’s capital. The Evans was about 110 nautical miles outside the official combat zone when the crewmen died, and their names have been absent from the wall since its dedication in 1982, despite the ship’s previous war support efforts.

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Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, has pushed for the Evans 74 to be placed on the war memorial, and he recently met with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel about the cause.

Just before Memorial Day this year, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill, calling on the Department of Defense to add their names to the wall.